This is the season where we grill, so the rotation is pork chops, chicken and steak. Two nights a week we have seafood. The other two nights might be leftovers, take out sandwiches ( think fish sandwich and cheese steak) at our local grocery store, or pasta. We just purchased a spiralizer, so we like zucchini and spaghetti sauce.
During the colder seasons we will rotate baked ham ( love the options for leftovers like split pea soup, ham salad, and ham, peas and tortilini), roasted chicken (leftovers for white chili and cold chicken sandwiches), and something made with ground beef like meatloaf, chili, or casseroles.
I avoid using my ovens in the summer, so it is grilled food for us. Cedar plank salmon, grilled halibut, chicken kabobs, steak, lamb, tritip, whatever we get a hold of at Costco. With grilled veggies or geeen salad on the side. Leftovers are usually served as topping on a salad. So not a whole lot of variety here, but I hate to heat up the house with elaborate cooking! It also helps that Mr. B is not picky and that we are empty nesters.
Coming up with ideas of what to cook is why I love Blue Apron! But I didn’t start using it until we were empty nesters (and it didn’t exist before then).
ribs or pork tenderloin in a slow cooker
cups bottled good quality bbq sauce
one onion quartered and tossed on top
6 hours on high
So good that I just served this for the third time to company (once the ribs and twice
used pork tenderloin)
My cheaters fish tacos;
Trader Joes rather $$ frozen Halibut --bake it and chop
a can of black beans (I add a chipotle bottled sauce)
grated cheddar
a bag of Southwest cabbage salad with a ranch chipotle dressing
Assemble with the cabbage last and dressing on top
warmed corn or flower tortillas
I love to cook and can do many complicated dishes. Night after night gets old as
does the chore of just figuring it out. H is the culprit for eating all of the yummy left overs
I was recently irritated that we had big meals for 4 sets of company and there was not even
enough left over for a snack for me. Complimented that they liked it so much but then H took
the “sin in a tin” leftover for lunch…uh, no. “Sin in a Tin” is a small container of frozen chocolate
dense decadence. $9.99 local store. I serve it with fruit and a few bites is all a serving is because
it is so rich.
Last night was a jack fruit pulled “pork” sandwich with celery root slaw. Total prep time was under 30 minutes. We used the jack fruit from cans and heated it with jar BBQ sauce. It is surprisingly close to pulled pork in texture. Celery root slaw is like any other. Just peel, chunk it up and run it through the Cuisinart with a couple of carrots.
In addition to Plenty, we get a lot of quick recipes from Cooking Light. Now that everyone is grown, we eat a lot of vegan and vegetarian even though we are neither.
Tri tip is a lot better if you marinate it at least a day.
@anomander Dumb question - do you cover pot with chicken while it’s reducing? Love coq au vin, but past home attempts have been complicated and disappointing. Plan to try your method!
@houndmom Nope, simmer uncovered so it can reduce. You may need to flip the chicken once or twice depending on how deep your pot is (i.e. if the chicken isn’t fully covered by sauce, then flip).
I’ve tried plenty of variations including one from Thomas Keller, but IMHO the method I’ve settled on works best for me in terms of ease and finished product. If you prefer your carrots firm, wait 30-45 minutes before putting them in, otherwise they’ll come out pretty soft (that’s how I like them, personally). At the very end I like to pull the meat off the bones and toss back into the pot so they soak up the sauce, but that’s personal preference.
If your hunger and motivation is positively affected by what you read here you might also benefit from signing up for a couple of email recipe weekly recipes. I love receiving my NYT Cooking emails and it only takes a minute to scan through the pictures to see if there is any recipe worth putting in my NYT “recipe box”. I’m sure there are others depending on your style of cooking.
The trick is though, to be sure to refer back to your “recipe box”, Pinterest board or whatever to actually follow through with making the dishes!
I got Plenty recently and haven’t started cooking from it yet.
Any favorites?
The most useful thing I find to always have on hand is boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I buy a few packages when they are on sale for $1.99/lb. Ideally, I trim off the little flap and any other fatty bits and add those to a plastic bag in the freezer where I keep trimmings until I make stock. I bag the trimmed breasts 2 to a small ziplock, and throw them in the freezer. Sometimes I just put the second whole 6-piece tray in the freezer, as is. I use them in an infinite number of ways, ranging from a simple sautee and quick pan sauce to more complex: Indian-style chicken, grilled chicken with something like a Penzey’s rub, chicken sauteed then braised in a pan sauce of fresh tomatoes, garlic and onion, maybe dried porcini, chicken sauteed with a mustard cream pan sauce, chicken on a bed of spinach with a curry cream sauce baked, chicken with a mushroom sauce, chicken paprikash, Chopped or slivered spice rub pan grilled chicken tossed in a bowl of qinoa with a variety of roasted/sauteed vegetables. And of course chicken salad.
Two of our favorite quick meals using a cast iron skillet - and that’s about it!
Chicken or Pork Chop Skillet
Season meat with salt/pepper/paprika (or whatever spice blend you like)
Two turns of olive oil heated in skillet
Brown chicken on both sides but don’t fully cook
Remove chicken to a plate
Add another turn of olive oil and 2T butter to the hot pan
Add and slowly caramelize a sliced onion and sliced fresh mushrooms (or canned)
Once nicely browned, add chicken back in skillet
Top with Havarti cheese
Place in 400 degree oven for 20 minutes
Top with fresh herbs!
(you could add other veggies like zucchini, carrots, etc. if you like)
Sausage Potato Hash Skillet
Brown a strip or two of bacon in hot skillet. Remove and crumble.
Slice kielbasa or other sausage and brown in skillet. Remove.
2-3 turns of olive oil in hot pan
Add diced uncooked potato/sweet potato
Sizzle (our term for “cook/brown”) until 3/4 to brown and crispy
Add in chopped onion and jalapeno for last few minutes of browning
Once all is cooked, brown and crispy add bacon back in and sausage
Season
Top with a nice sprinkle of your favorite cheese (we love FETA!)
Finish with fresh herbs
@Consolation I go to Costco for boneless skinless chicken breasts (they have thighs, too) in pouches. 3 pouches, each has 2 (occasionally 3) breasts apiece. They are attached but perforated, so you can detach each pouch without opening and freeze them. So no repackaging required to freeze them. I just separate the pouches and freeze. Maybe just a Seattle thing. I’ve seen the thigh pouches at Fred Meyer, but only seen both types at Costco.
Cooking for 1 is not any fun at all so I make lots of things that can do double duty.
Two night ago, I cooked whole wheat spaghetti noodles. I lightly sauteed shrimp, spiralized zucchini zoodles, shredded carrots, thinly sliced onions. Divided the shrimp+ veggies in half, & put half away for another night. Cooled cooked noodles under cold running water, added shrimp & veggies, some fresh bean sprouts mixed it with bottled asian sesame-ginger salad dressing zipped up with with soy sauce & siracha. Topped it with green onions and sesame seeds. Tonight I’ll gently rewarm the shrimp & veggies with homemade pesto sauce and serve over warm spaghetti with parmesan.
I made pizza dough earlier in the week. (It’s in the fridge fermenting.) I could use the pesto, shrimp & veggies for pizza on the outdoor grill instead. (It’s in the 90s so baking pizza in house is simply not going to happen.) Wish I had some ricotta because ricotta, shrimp & pesto pizza sounds delicious… Or maybe I’ll top the pizza with bottled BBQ sauce + leftover pulled pork (from some shoulder chops I cooked in the pressure cooker over the weekend) & cheddar cheese. That sounds good too. I have some lovely lettuce in my garden and I bought pint of cherry tomatoes yesterday–so that’s a side salad to go with the pizza or spaghetti.
Panko breaded shrimp with salad. The panko breading has mustard underneath. It was in Martha Stewart. Looks healthy. Have a really gourmet bunch here. They will eat anything but they like to critique. Ugh. I’ve had a lot of luck with Hello Fresh. I buy it some weeks keep the recipes and then buy it locally. Would like to get it each and every week but it is costly.
I’m really picky about my chicken breasts. I find that when I buy them from certain grocery stores, they can be really tough. So I usually try to buy at a local butcher shop or buy the organic breasts from a chain.
I make super easy meals. This time of year, I grill a lot. When I buy meat, I buy quite a bit, divide it up and freeze. I take chicken breasts and put some in marinade and freeze. I buy hamburger meat, make patties and freeze in packages of 2. By dividing up and freezing, I always have a meal ready to go in a pinch. I buy a lot of steak, ny strips were $6.99 a pound, I bought 8. H and I will share one for dinner.
I also use my crock pot. This time of year, I’ll put ribs in the crockpot with rib rub. Then put in the grill to finish with sauce. I also put chicken in and make burrito bowls or tacos. Easy to heat up
For sides, I usually have potatoes and rice. Fresh or in a pinch frozen vegetables. I will roast potatoes and vegetables together in a pan, I bought cookie pan liners so no clean up.
I like salads and will grill a chicken breast and make a grilled chicken salad.
I also make a big crockpot of spaghetti sauce and freeze half.
No kids at home, but I didn’t cook much differently then. It’s super boring but we don’t go out to eat and try to not to have too many calories either.
Here’s another sheet tray type chicken recipe to make that is very good. Just add a greek or tossed salad or some green beans or peas, and it is a fairly simple meal.
Browse through other Chef John recipes on allrecipes.com. They get consistently good reviews, often include videos, and are suited to cooks without any special skills or tools. The few I’ve tried have been tasty.
“I learned that neither myself or my wife can cook compared to you all…”
Cooking is easy. I’m sure you’re up to the task if you try.
